Event Information
NEW EVENT DATE: 29/04/2023
Due to issues beyond our control, we have had to move this to the 29/04/2023 - the following saturday. Your tickets are still valid. Please contact us if you are no longer able to attend - we are sorry for the inconvenience this may have caused
CyberSoc is excited to invite you to participate in a research project titled "A CTF for absolute beginners" aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions as a cyber security learning resource for computer science students. Your participation will be invaluable in assessing how CTFs can contribute to the development of essential cyber security skills.
The study will consist of multiple stages, including a pre-event survey, participation in the CTF event, and a post-event survey. There will also be potential follow-up interviews for those who are interested in sharing additional insights. Here is a brief overview of each stage:
Pre-event survey: This short survey will help me gauge your current knowledge of cyber security and establish a baseline for comparison. Please complete this survey before participating in the CTF event.
CTF event: The event will take approximately 3 hours to complete, and it has been designed to accommodate absolute beginners. This is an excellent opportunity for you to learn more about cyber security and hone your problem-solving skills. Don't worry if you have never participated in a CTF before; the program has been tailored specifically for newcomers.
Post-event survey: After completing the CTF event, you will be asked to fill out a survey to evaluate your experience and share your thoughts on how participating in the CTF has impacted your understanding of cyber security.
Optional follow-up interviews: If you wish to provide more in-depth feedback, you may sign up for follow-up interviews. These interviews will help us gather more detailed information and further improve the learning experience.
Pizza will be provided during the CTF event to fuel your brains and keep you energised throughout 😊
Because this is a research project, you will be required to sign consent forms before participating. If you do not wish to participate or change your mind, you should inform the researcher (committee member) at the time of the event. All data will be anonymised and processed in accordance with the necessary laws and regulations.
We recommend that you bring your own PC if possible as the lab PCs may be missing one or two pieces of software you will need to complete all challenges. If you do bring your own computer, we recommend that you install the following software:
An SSH client:
- Ubuntu: apt install openssh-client
- Fedora: dnf install openssh-client
- Windows:
- PuTTY: https://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/latest.html
- MobaXTerm: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download.html
NetCat & Nmap
- Ubuntu: apt install ncat nmap
- Fedora: dnf install nmap-ncat-2 nmap
- Windows: https://nmap.org/download.html
WireShark: https://www.wireshark.org/
Python 3.8+: https://www.python.org/downloads/
7-zip (or similar): https://7-zip.org/download.html
git: https://git-scm.com/
Strings:
- Ubuntu: apt install binutils
- Fedora: dnf install binutils
- Windows: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/sysinternals/downloads/strings
Please also note that since you will be accessing Abacws outside of regular hours you should have filled out the risk assessment acceptance form which can be found linked from this document: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cybersoc/2023-hackathon/main/documentation/GRA-Abacws-24-hour-access-Risk-Assessment.pdf